Political Quotes

“I am very pleased to join my colleague from North Dakota, Senator Heitkamp, and appreciate all of the efforts she is making to try to address the challenges we are facing in the healthcare markets across this country. Like her and like so many of my colleagues who are going to be here, I have come to the floor this afternoon because we want to take urgent steps and we can take steps today to address the uncertainty in our health insurance markets. We can take steps today that can hold down premiums. I have heard Senators on both sides of the aisle who have expressed concern about looming premium increases in the Affordable Care Act marketplaces. We all need to understand, as Senator Heitkamp pointed out, what some of the causes of these premium increases are. Insurers regularly cite the Trump administration's refusal to commit to making cost-sharing reduction payments, also known as CSRs. These CSR payments were included in the Affordable Care Act in order to help Americans afford insurance once they had it. The ACA requires insurers to reduce deductibles and copayments for working families who are buying insurance in the marketplace. Because of the cost-sharing reduction payments, the CSRs, patients pay less for their care and the government reimburses the insurers. These reductions and payments are built into the rates insurers are charging for 2017.…”